


Sunflower

by ragtags



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Love Story, M/M, Other, Saving the World, Slow Burn, Sunflower, Sunflowers, honestly its gonna be a wild ride yall, ineffable boyfriends, ineffable husbands, long burn story, more world ending, world ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-01 18:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19183333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragtags/pseuds/ragtags
Summary: “You know there’s another one down there?” The demon Crawley hummed.“I’m-I’m sorry, what?” came the exasperated reply of the angel who had already returned his attention back to the two in the desert.Like most stories, there are always bits and bobs that never make it to the end page. For many of these stories, they glance over things that seem less significant, or trivial. We will attempt to bring forth a story that may or may not have been an underlying theme (mistake) throughout the coming of the End Times...and what came of it after they had inadvertently stopped it from happening. A long haul, slow burn story that takes us from what was, to what is, and what will be.





	1. From Eden

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thanks for taking the time to read this! I have been reading a lot of "Good Omens" fan fic the last few weeks and I absolutely adored every one of them. As much as I loved all the one shots, I wanted to dig my teeth in to something thicker, so I thought I'd take a stab at writing some fanfic myself. This isn't going to be a crossover so I do apologize to all the Supernatural fans out there!! I'm going to try to upload this weekly, but be prepared for a super long haul sort of fanfic. Like the title says, we're going to be going through some stuff in the past, present, and soon to be future.

_“Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on it's sword_

_Innocents died screaming, honey ask me I should know_

_I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door - Hozier, “From Eden”_

 

The first rain had begun to fall.

At the edge of the eastern gate stood an angel and a demon, and far beyond the wall in the distance two humans battled it out with vicious beasts as they searched desperately for shelter. It was never supposed to go this way- it was supposed to be Paradise. The Angel known as Aziraphale watched helplessly as the glow of a fiery sword slowly began to disappear over the horizon of a sand dune. There was going to be a lot of paperwork over this, surely.

\----------------------------

 

What was funny were the days that led up to today. So far, for all intents and purposes, they had been nice days. Every day was nice. In fact there had been more than several of them already. Aziraphale, guardian of the eastern gate of Eden, had spent much of those days watching the humans below with awe and astonishment. He loved them dearly, and understood so easily why the Almighty had gone to such trouble to create them. They were fascinating little things and the angel couldn’t help but feel as though he were solely responsible for their well-being (never we mind the other three angels that stood at the other gates; Raphael, Uriel, and Raguel.)

Somewhere around the third day, God had seemed to give them all a brilliant light show in the evening. The humans, who we’ll call Adam and Eve, decided to call the light show a meteor shower. What none of them knew was the shower was not of space rock, but that of fallen angels. Aziraphale found himself feeling terribly sad that night for a reason he couldn’t quite put a finger on.

It wasn’t until Gabriel showed up the following day to issue Aziraphale a flaming sword that he had found out. Yes, he had known rumors of the Rebellion, but it seemed to be something still so far off, that the idea came off as a foreign concept to him. Yet, it couldn’t be helped if it had come sooner.  Gabriel spoke briefly about the War and the Fall, explaining that the sword was to be used if any fallen angels- they called them demons now, - dared show their faces, and it would be Aziraphale who would see to it that the Garden remained protected at whatever cost. It was part of the Great Plan, Gabriel had said with a smile so wide even the Principality had a hard time looking at his boss dead in the eyes for fear that he would go blind by the sheer shine of Gabriel’s perfect teeth.

This in turn made the entire scenario of him simply giving it away that much more hilariously ironic. But that’s a story for another time.

It’s perhaps worth noting that had Aziraphale been in Heaven on the day of the Fall, he may have been one himself. It wasn’t that he questioned God, but he would surely have put himself in the middle of it, anxiously attempting to quell the rebellion and restore what peace he could only assume was needed and muster it from deep within him. It’s possible, if he had been there and done that, that he would simply have been cast out of Heaven for ‘meddling’ in what was already “fated” to happen.

It is perhaps best not to dwell on those kinds of thoughts.

\---------------------

 

“You know there’s another one down there?” The demon Crawley hummed.

“I’m-I’m sorry, what?” came the exasperated reply of the angel who had already returned his attention back to the two in the desert. He had let his mind wander from the conversation they had just been having about God’s Ineffable Plan, Crawley’s subsequent demonic intervention in what was supposed to have been Paradise, and had focused his entire being on Adam and Eve as they began to crest an even further sand dune. Aziraphale’s head swung back to look at the serpentine demon, locking his own bright blue eyes with the bright yellow eyes of Crawley.

“Mm, yeah. There were three of them, last I checked. It’s funny,” Crawley mused with a thin lipped smile as he turned his attention from the angel back out across the barren lands, “I tried to tempt her first but she wasn’t having any of it. Surprised she didn’t stop the other two from doing the same.”

By now, Aziraphale’s look had turned from frightened to aghast at what Crawley had just said. He’d attempted to tempt all three humans within Eden? All he could do was stand there, dumbfounded with his mouth open as the demon carried on talking without what seemed to be a care in the world.

“Guess it’s not all bad,” Crawley finally shrugged, turning back to look over the wall back into the Garden. The storm clouds only darkened overhead as the rain began to come down harder, “you lot still got one good apple.” Again, he smiled, but this time at the joke he’d just invented. Aziraphale’s look of pure disgust at what had just left the demon’s mouth wore clearly on his face as he gave a disapproving huff.

“Well, I better pop off then...Home office will be excited to hear that the whole, ‘Go-Up-There-And-Make-Some-Trouble’ campaign was...mm, more or less a complete success.”

“I-I-I beg your pardon!” the angel balked as he turned to watch Crawley shuffle towards the edge of the wall; lowering the wing he had previously been using to cover the demon’s head. “What do you mean more or less?! You, you, you tempted God’s creation! You rebelled!” His voice had grown ever so slightly high pitched at the mere thought of all that was happening around him.

Crawley gave the angel a smirk.

“And _you_ gave them your flaming sword.”

The words stung Aziraphale worse than the rain that pelted his face and the thunder that boomed overhead. He watched dumbstruck as Crawley slunk back down into his snake form and slithered down to Eden, down to where he had first entered the garden.

\------------------------------

 

It didn’t take long for God to send Her Holy and Divine message to Aziraphale. It came through louder than Her voice had ever been, booming irritably through his brain as he received the telepathic message. Eden would be temporarily closing up shop until the human race repented for what they had done with their disobedience. There would be one, however, that would remain within the Garden for she did not find herself tempted by the serpent Crawley, and therefore there would only be one angel required to stay.

The archangel Raguel had been chosen, of course, as he manned the Southern Gate. Raguel was a strong, burly angel with more muscle mass than Aziraphale, Michael, and Uriel combined. He was a force to be reckoned with and it seemed only natural for him to be the one left behind. Raphael and Uriel were to report back upstairs for reassignment per the orders of the Almighty. For Aziraphale, his orders were completely different. The Principality had let two of the three humans become tempted by a foul, and wily demon, and there would be consequences. The orders came from Gabriel himself; Aziraphale would be left on Earth for the time being to continue to watch over the humans and see to it that certain events and people that were to be did not fall into evil hands and temptations. Consider it a redemption arc, Gabriel had smugly said in Aziraphale’s inner monologue (the angel assumed he was being smug based on the tone of his voice. In fact, he could almost picture his boss’s tight lipped smile; always there, always bearing teeth…) and that he would be given orders from the Head Office about what sort of ground work he was to do. All in all, it sounded simple; watch over humanity and see to it that it doesn’t fall into the hands of those evil demons. If he was going to do that, however, he was going to need his sword.

\------------------------

 

Aziraphale found himself standing in the middle of the Garden, taking it all in one last time before he set out on his journey. The rains had all but begun to pass overhead and the dreary grey sky was all that remained in an otherwise bright and vibrant world. Oh, if only they had written down what it all looked like; he would have loved to have kept a keepsake from Eden. The angel’s face contorted into a solemn look as he did his best to put every last detail to memory. If nothing else, perhaps he would write about it somewhere, or find someone who could do a much better job than he.

 

Only once on his way out did he catch a glimpse of the third human who inhabited this Paradise. She was busy eating off of a blackberry bush, but she nevertheless turned around as he drew closer. Their eyes met for a moment, and Aziraphale gave her a small but awkward smile and wave of the hand before he continued on his way to the soon to be blocked entrance to Eden. What he didn’t know was that this third human, who for all intents and purposes will call Lilith, had begun to follow him towards the gate. She seemed intrigued to see another there, and that intrigue led her to the stone wall that she hadn’t ever really noticed before. She’d seen it, sure, but she hadn’t _noticed_ it. What she was really noticing was the large hole that had been carved out of the side of it, and a hole that the man was walking through. She blinked, took a step forward and stopped. Ahead of her, the angel man had turned around, their eyes meeting once more as he waved his hand over the wall and the stone began to repair itself. Lilith took another step forward but as she did, the last stone was set into place and a gust of wind drew her back from the wall.

 

Outside of Eden, Aziraphale stood, taking in and staring out ahead in to the endless void of sand. It was then that a bright light shone on his face, and the booming voice of God once more came forth, reverberating throughout his entire body.

 

“Aziraphale. Angel of the Eastern Gate,” it boomed.

 

“Y-Yes, Lord. Hello, Lord.” Aziraphale croaked out nervously.

 

“Where is the flaming sword I gave you, Aziraphale, to guard the Gate of Eden?”

 

“Ahh-- Sword? Right. Big...Sharp...Cutty thing. Yes. Must have..Must have put it down somewhere. Forget my own head next.” He forced a guilty chuckle as he waited for a reply. But when none came and the light faded, he couldn’t help but feel a cold shiver run up through his spine. It was settled then. He would need to find his sword from that lovely couple, and then he would become the Angel who Guarded Humanity. Yet as he took those first few steps from the safe walls of Eden, something most curious had happened. The sand that once lay dormant at the feet of sandstone walls began to whip up in a strong gust of wind, carrying it up higher and higher until it finally encompassed the entirety of the garden. All at once, a Garden that had been there was no longer there. Only an endless sandstorm. Aziraphale covered his face as he stepped further and further away from the place he once called home.

 

It was settled then. Find the sword. Begin the job. Repent for his mistakes and hopefully avoid doing the paperwork in the process. Aziraphale took in a deep breath and turned his attention towards the horizon.


	2. This Is Gospel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Crawley had never meant to fall. No, it was simply just a bad place bad time sort of thing. One minute he was creating endless jokes in the form of planets (a planet that would later be named Uranus was his favorite for many reasons ), and the next he was free falling through what felt like all of time and space, right in to the fiery pits that would eventually be called Hell._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Thanks for taking the time to read this! Sorry it’s a bit exposition heavy; needed to get this out of the way to set up the rest of the story. For reasons.

_“This is gospel for the fallen ones_  
_Locked away in permanent slumber_  
_Assembling their philosophies_  
_From pieces of broken memories”- Panic! At the Disco, “This Is Gospel”_

 

Crawley had never meant to fall.  No, it was simply just a bad place bad time sort of thing. One minute he was creating endless jokes in the form of planets (a planet that would later be named Uranus was his favorite for many reasons ), and the next he was free falling through what felt like all of time and space, right in to the fiery pits that would eventually be called Hell.

 

In an attempt to explain how Crowley came to be, we must take a moment and look back in to his past; we must first examine how he, and the rest of the Fallen came into being. What is about to be explained should serve simply as a general guide and not an accurate rendition of what may or may not have truly happened.

 

First came God.

Then She made Lucifer.

From there the rest of the angels were created. And then the universe. And then finally the Earth.

 

You see, angels and demons are technically made from the same stock. That is to say, angels are made from the same stock. Perhaps this is because God intended to provide them with a deep seated sense of familial love for one another, or perhaps because mass production saves a great deal of time and energy which can be better spent creating other things (like 39 different flavors of ice cream, or “The Sound of Music”). Regardless, She cast them all from the same mold before adding in some personal touches. She ensured each angel had its own little quirks - its own unique snippets of consciousness. These were the seeds that would eventually allow them to become, to a point, their own people.  It was as God intended, of course, and it was a means of telling them all apart- save for the angels' names and corporeal bodies which helped them tell each other apart (these little gifts of self awareness She gave them were how she kept them distinct for Her own purposes).Think of it as having identical twins- they come from the same source, have the same genes, but one twin is quiet and reserved while the other is in to My Chemical Romance and spending all their free time online writing slash fiction about their favorite Harry Potter pairings.

 

In any such event, each angel was made with time, love, and care. God was not about to half ass Her first creation. They were perfect and they were flawed, just the way She liked.

 

What angels won’t tell you, perhaps out of fear of repercussions from the Almighty, or perhaps they’re still just too dense to realize it, is that each and every one of them was given the gift of free thought. They had an option, of course, to choose to follow God, or to question God. Those who followed Her teachings without question became what we consider today to be angels; the good guys. Those who questioned became known as The Fallen; the bad guys. The real question that should be asked next is: but how did it happen?

 

The answer is actually fairly simple: Miscommunication.

 

When God created mankind, Lucifer (who we should mention was made very nearly closest to that of God's resemblance- what can we say? She can be vain) spoke out to God- asking simply why She cared so much for these creatures when She had already done so well creating the angels?

 

What God had said was simply this; I wanted to try my hand at something new. I love them dearly, my son, and they are one of my favorite creations, but do not think that you are any less important to me.

 

What Lucifer had heard was: Mankind is my greatest creation and I love them far more than you or any of the other angels, and the humans will be the ones to rule over all of my creation while you get the back seat and simply observe these higher beings that I made.

 

See? Simple miscommunication. What followed that exchange, however, was just miscommunication blown completely out of proportion. Lucifer had run to the angels and had begun to spread the word that in short, was, “God doesn’t love us anymore. She’s gone and created mankind, and they are the ones for whom She loves most. We are expendable and useless. We are unloved. We must rally together and show God that we demand Her love equally to that of mankind.”

 

Crawley (or as he would later be known as Crowley) had been somewhere in the Milky Way throwing up ‘artistic visions’ of what he thought a galaxy should look like. Make it pretty, they had told him. Make it look, well, complicated and far beyond the comprehension of anyone’s wildest dreams. At the time, he hadn’t known that what he was creating was essentially an endless sandbox for the humans to eventually invade with their space junk and faulty exploration. No, for Crawley, he was simply...expressing himself.

 

When the call from Lucifer rang through his head, Crawley promptly stopped what he was doing, responding out in kind, “What do you mean-- ‘God doesn’t love us anymore?’ Why would God not love us anymore? Have I not created beautiful, creative works of art for Her to enjoy? Was this all for nothing? Have I done something wrong?”

 

You see, it wasn’t so much of Crawley defying God by questioning Her specifically, but rather, he was cast out of Heaven for simply believing in the doubt that had been sowed in to his mind from an angelic friend that he had known and been close with. Like we said; bad place, bad time sort of situation. Any who even remotely entertained the idea of doubt on whether God did or did not love them, was immediately marked to be sent out of Heaven. The angels that did not question- those who scoffed at Lucifer and his crazed antics were the ones who pulled the trigger on their Fall. It was not so much of God’s personal choice to rid Heaven of those who would question Her, but it was the angels that remained in Heaven. They saw opposition- they saw a fatal flaw in their ranks and it was doubt. So they did what any good, loyal angel would do when presented with an idea that simply just couldn’t be true. They cast it out of their mind (and quite literally simply cast out everyone who shared those doubts) and out of their lives. It wasn’t so much a War as Gabriel had put it to Aziraphale so much as it was simply “cleaning house”.

 

Speaking of Aziraphale, and as we have previously said, it is entirely possible that had he been in Heaven at the time of the rebellion that he too would have been cast out, but not for doing anything wrong- just, simply existing in the folds at the wrong place at the wrong time. For the angel, he had been created with something God was most proud of- She gifted him with the unwavering kindness and gentle nature that would be necessary for a Guardian of Eden. Perhaps She knew that he would fall in love with humanity the way She had- perhaps She didn’t. It, as always, is best not to speculate. Whatever the reason was, Aziraphale’s sole purpose was to watch mankind and love mankind in the way that God had wanted and hoped all the angels could.

\------------------------

 

They’d given him a special commendation for breaking Eden. Honestly, Crawley had been equally as surprised as anyone when he returned down to Hell. The demon hordes had called it a ‘massive win’ for their side, and that more ‘wins’ of this particular nature were needed if they were going to prove one and for all that they were in fact A. superior, B. better, and C. worthy of so much more than what they’d gotten from their angelic counterparts.

 

What they had realized was that Crawley was effective, and that meant putting him up on Earth would result in more evil influences, which would result in more souls for their Lord. They thought his....creativity would serve them well up top and so he was to report for duty first thing in the morning (whenever that was. Time doesn’t really move in the same way we think about it when it comes to demons and angels). Crawley couldn’t help but find himself laughing at that statement. Even if Hell was full of maggots, smelly demons, and acid pits, at least they could recognize creativity when they saw it (unlike some Lords who we won’t mention). It was settled then; Crawley would return to the Earth and be given specific duties that would need to be accomplished while Hell grew its numbers. They were small things- mainly temptations and small bribes here and there. You know, the ‘Go-Wreck-Havoc-And-Make-Their-Lives-Hell-But-Not-Too-Much-Hell-Not-Yet’ sort of thing. Just enough to cause pain and misery but not enough to fully catch the attention of the angels in Heaven (Heaven still had way more angels than they had demons for a proper fight and Hell needed some fresh blood before going back toe to toe with them). If nothing else, even temporarily, it sounded like fun.

 

Of course, fun is all hindsight when one is tasked with following out certain duties, but lack the means of carrying them out. When Crawley returned to the surface, he was surprised to find that Eden was no longer where it had been, and any sign of the only two living humans on Earth had long since been swept away in the sands of time. By the time he had found them, it was technically 3979 BC. The concept of a calendar year had yet to be formalized or realized in any capacity, so it’s near impossible to confirm the date as being accurate. What Crawley found when he happened upon the family of original humans was quite a sight; there were four of them in the smallest homesteads imaginable, and all of them seemed to be coexisting. It was a strange sight considering not too long ago he had tempted at least two of them to eat from the forbidden tree. Crawley smiled widely as he watched them from afar. His job was going to be easy- go in, tempt the children, and get out; but where was the fun in just tempting? Why stop there when he could do so much more? Without hesitation the demon reverted to his serpent body and began to slither towards the camp when a foot slammed down in front of his face.

 

Crawley recoiled and looked up to see the shadow of a man with bleach blonde hair and a pair of crossed arms. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the angel glaring down at him with a rather disappointed look.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to give out a special thanks to Mutter, Sophloph, Captainoftheussphasethefuckers, Captialwildcat, and Alientakol for putting up with me during this trying time as I try to write a super long haul fanfiction for Good Omens.


End file.
